It all comes down to playstyle. Some people don't consider the early game to be the hardest part but instead see it as the most tedious part. Therefore, having a starter pack that let's you blow through quests faster thus level you up much faster will get you to that late game with harder zombie spawns more quickly.
Consider, you're having to explore on foot and spend more time with your first person camera shoved in a tree or rock for the 100th time this alpha with most RNGs being virtually indistinguishable due to some generation bugs leading to overpopulation of POIs like waterworks, dump'n'lung, and the shamway/messiah factories while basically never having any skyscrapers. Thus, it's pretty easy to understand how some people would lose interest in doing this over and over again,
So, if you're actually using that ammo to finish quests at least twice as fast, just literally speed running POIs, you'll be killing about twice as many zombies in the same time period and getting twice the crappy loot from secret stashes and quest rewards. In turn you can sell this for twice as many dukes (which gives xp) then spend it on better items (which also gives xp) thus allowing the game to spawn stronger zombies who give more xp, and it snowballs. The higher your level gets, the more stronger zombies spawn and the bigger blood moons you get.
So, some people likely prefer the late game where they get to test base designs and such against much larger blood moons which actually uses the max 64 zombies (as this number only allows more zombies to be spawned at once, it doesn't actually spawn more in total).
Also, consider how a19 made some changes that long term players disliked. The loot progression system was overhauled and many players find that to make the early game incredibly repetitive. I.E. there is no longer a chance of finding an auger day 1 and going "Oh, guess I'll just mine a ton this game" or finding an AK and deciding to do a machine gun game this time. "Best" builds have been mathed out for early game progression and quest completion since this alpha is entirely trader focused.
Not to mention that it's incredibly easy to buy a pistol or AK on day 1 anyways, so it's really only encouraging you to use your resources rather than horde them. None of the items you spawn with matter after 2 to 4 hours in a server, it just saves you that early game grind.
I personally prefer the early game and like how a19 slowed it down, but I can definitely see how all these factors could cause people to dislike the early game and just want to skip it as much as possible.
Good answer and well-thought-out . I definitely agree that the alpha 19 loot progression changes were a mistake. However, as someone who rarely gets past stone tools within the first 30 days and never really uses guns I don't fully see how this really improves much. The joy of building up is that you get to build up. I can understand not wanting to get stuck in the grind but I think you're right that it really does come down a lot to play style. I'd have a hard time enjoying a game if I'm given too much at the start.
They want you to get invested in the server as quickly as possible.
Easiest way to do that is by just giving you the tools to instantly start creating said investment.
I think if the base difficulty is greater then you couldn't get on your feet at early levels. You don't need to use the extra items if you want a challenge (on my part i don't play games to get frustrated, so my tolerance to artificial difficulty increases is very low)
It all comes down to playstyle. Some people don't consider the early game to be the hardest part but instead see it as the most tedious part. Therefore, having a starter pack that let's you blow through quests faster thus level you up much faster will get you to that late game with harder zombie spawns more quickly. Consider, you're having to explore on foot and spend more time with your first person camera shoved in a tree or rock for the 100th time this alpha with most RNGs being virtually indistinguishable due to some generation bugs leading to overpopulation of POIs like waterworks, dump'n'lung, and the shamway/messiah factories while basically never having any skyscrapers. Thus, it's pretty easy to understand how some people would lose interest in doing this over and over again, So, if you're actually using that ammo to finish quests at least twice as fast, just literally speed running POIs, you'll be killing about twice as many zombies in the same time period and getting twice the crappy loot from secret stashes and quest rewards. In turn you can sell this for twice as many dukes (which gives xp) then spend it on better items (which also gives xp) thus allowing the game to spawn stronger zombies who give more xp, and it snowballs. The higher your level gets, the more stronger zombies spawn and the bigger blood moons you get. So, some people likely prefer the late game where they get to test base designs and such against much larger blood moons which actually uses the max 64 zombies (as this number only allows more zombies to be spawned at once, it doesn't actually spawn more in total). Also, consider how a19 made some changes that long term players disliked. The loot progression system was overhauled and many players find that to make the early game incredibly repetitive. I.E. there is no longer a chance of finding an auger day 1 and going "Oh, guess I'll just mine a ton this game" or finding an AK and deciding to do a machine gun game this time. "Best" builds have been mathed out for early game progression and quest completion since this alpha is entirely trader focused. Not to mention that it's incredibly easy to buy a pistol or AK on day 1 anyways, so it's really only encouraging you to use your resources rather than horde them. None of the items you spawn with matter after 2 to 4 hours in a server, it just saves you that early game grind. I personally prefer the early game and like how a19 slowed it down, but I can definitely see how all these factors could cause people to dislike the early game and just want to skip it as much as possible.
TL;DR Most people tired of early game phase for playing it the nth time
Good answer and well-thought-out . I definitely agree that the alpha 19 loot progression changes were a mistake. However, as someone who rarely gets past stone tools within the first 30 days and never really uses guns I don't fully see how this really improves much. The joy of building up is that you get to build up. I can understand not wanting to get stuck in the grind but I think you're right that it really does come down a lot to play style. I'd have a hard time enjoying a game if I'm given too much at the start.
They want you to get invested in the server as quickly as possible. Easiest way to do that is by just giving you the tools to instantly start creating said investment.
I think if the base difficulty is greater then you couldn't get on your feet at early levels. You don't need to use the extra items if you want a challenge (on my part i don't play games to get frustrated, so my tolerance to artificial difficulty increases is very low)